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Yoani Sánchez Uncaged
April 12, 2013 | 163 comments
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Take the Helmets Off
February 4, 2013 | 68 comments
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Let’s Pay Women Not to Abort
January 23, 2013 | 69 comments
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The Millennial Divide
January 22, 2013 | 30 comments
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The Meaninglessness of Opinion Polls on Roe v. Wade
January 17, 2013 | 68 comments
The Obama Watch
Barackward
Our President is out of touch — the very flaw his sympathizers see in Mitt Romney.
(Page 2 of 2)
But Obama could make a greater effort to get to know the people he serves. Instead, he spends an inordinate amount of time raising money for himself. Obama has held more than 100 re-election fundraisers in the less than a year since he officially filed his candidacy for a second term with the Federal Election Commission on April 4, 2011.
And his free time is often spent relaxing on luxurious vacations, hosting elaborate state dinners, appearing on comedy talk shows or mingling with A-list celebrities at posh White House events, such as the recent concert there for Black History Month featuring Mick Jagger and B.B. King.
Obama has a well-known affinity for golf, a game that would seem to offer ample opportunity for socializing. Obama has golfed more than 100 times during his first term. But, according to the New York Times, his foursomes usually consist of the same small group of mid- to low-level West Wing staffers. Otherwise, as the Times reported in December, Obama is increasingly isolated, spending “his down time with a small-and shrinking-inner circle of aides and old friends.”
Obama’s inability to connect may seem trivial. But it surely hampers his capacity to tap into the empathy he insists informs so much of his agenda. Obama’s lack of connectedness may help explain his distant and then dysfunctional response to the Gulf Coast oil spill, and the deep unpopularity of some of his signature initiatives, such as Obamacare and the contraceptive mandate.
Obama once wrote that empathy “is at the heart of my moral code.” But, by insulating himself from most Americans, Obama can’t possibly develop or employ the empathy necessary to govern as a president for all Americans.
About the Author
Daniel Allott is a writer in Washington, D.C.
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Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 4.24.12 @ 7:36AM
After sitting in a church where he connected to anti-white rhetoric from Jeremiah Wright, it's no surprise that he doesn't connect with most Americans or that he doesn't care.
Obama's real personality has been hidden in plain sight. Obama's disdain for the average American is based on his core belief that white America deserves what it gets and if he can help slam the majority of Americans into a form of servitude, then the chickens have come home to roost.
That core belief leads him to the next logical step, that white America should be taxed to death and should be forced to become a medical slave of government.
That's an ironic stance for someone who should reject any form of slavery but at heart Obama must follow through on the anti-white anti-American sermons from Jeremiah Wright and if he plunges the bitter gun toting Americans into a form of living hell, so much the better.
TLP| 4.24.12 @ 9:47AM
"These are the times that try men's souls."
This whole thing is being run out of the White House. The Community Organizer is doing the only thing he knows how to do. The thing he was BORN to do. "I am become DEATH. Destroyer of worlds."
"And I saw the BEAST rise from the Sea. And he was given a MOUTH, to speak Haughty and Blasphemous words. And he was allowed to exercise authority for forty two months." Revelation 13 - 5.
He is the Master of ACORN. He is the Master of every Union that we have seen take to the streets in ANGER since he came to Power (amid a World Wide Crisis). He is the Master of a Shadow Government of Czars, so Radical, that they could never have gotten Confirmation, even from a Democrat Controlled Senate Committee. Communist, Marxists, Maoists, Anarchists all.
The son of an Atheist Communist and a Muslim Marxist. Raised in Muslim Indonesia till the age of 11, in the Muslim Schools and Mosques. Filling his young mind with DEATH TO AMERICA! and DEATH TO THE JEWS! A man that HAMAS believes (and so do I) is their Deliverer, who will bring about the Destruction of the Jews, and return Jerusalem to Muslim hands.
Feel free to correct me, if you can.
Egypt just cut off Natural Gas to Israel, just days after the Muslim Brotherhood became the 1st Muslim Terrorist Organization to ever be Invited to the White House for Tea, and $1.5 BIllion. Money for the people who are KILLING CHRISTIANS, and Burning Christian Churches, all over Egypt.
Since ABU HUSSAIN has taken power. The Islamists have siezed control of Tunisia, Egypt, and with Obama's military help - Libya. He has sent American Special Forces to Africa to fight Christians, who are fighting Muslims. He has "Secret Wars" all over the Middle East. He does NOTHING to thwart a Nuclear Iran. NOTHING to the Syrian butcher, as he murders THOUSANDS of his own people, in the Streets. In fact he VETOES any idea of Arming the Freedom Fighters, as he just finished doing in Libya.
The Army Prophesized in Revelation, is taking shape. Which brings us back to here.
"We need a Civilian Force, just as big, and just as equipped, as the Military one."
HE is The Occupy Movement. HE is the driver of The Black Panthers. HE is the driver of THE NATION of ISLAM. HE is Al Sharpton's keeper.
Sanford, Florida will BURN before all is said and and done. Chicago will BURN. Baltimore, Oakland, Milwaukee, Detroit. All of the Cities with a Minority Majority will be put to the Torch, to Create a Crisis that HE can "Take Advantage" of.
EGYPT JUST CUT OFF NATURAL HAS TO ISRAEL.
It's not that he's "Out of touch" or "Detached" per se.
It's just that HE has other Concerns.
HE has a Goal in mind that is more BIBLICAL, than Parochial.
HE is doing what he was put on this Earth to do.
What more can I do, to make you see this?
skedaddle| 4.24.12 @ 10:44AM
You are absolutely correct and it's maddening how few people can see it. I said during the election that this was biblical prophecy coming to frightening life. If you will admit that 0bama wants to destroy anything good, then all his actions make perfect sense.
Alan Brooks| 4.24.12 @ 5:28PM
Romney is the very thing you disliked about JFK:
a son of Papa Joe-type. Remember how when JFK appointed his brother AG, the Right objected?: if Romney is elected POTUS, he might do something similar- as he is used to having his own way. Romney has had everything, and now he cannot imagine that he should be denied the presidency for him to do with as he sees fit. Romney wants to be Nixon II, the Imperial President.
Brubaker| 4.24.12 @ 5:48PM
I don't have any desire to defend Romney, but I think you really ought to consider the simple fact that poor men don't get elected President. Only people with financial resources and extensive political connections have any chance.
beebop2| 4.24.12 @ 7:30PM
This thread is about 0bama. Stay on topic or get the hell off.
Alan Brooks| 4.24.12 @ 9:04PM
QUOTE Our President is out of touch -- the very flaw his sympathizers see in Mitt Romney UNQUOTE
Jack in Wi.| 4.24.12 @ 7:39AM
Obama Biden Romney Rubio, Obama Biden Mc Cain Palin, Bush Cheney Kerry Edwards, Bush Cheney Gore Lieberman, Clinton Gore Dole Kemp, Clinton Gore Bush Quale, Bush Quale Dukakis Benston. Is there any list more out of touch then this bunch of losers? Is there any wonder why the country is in the toilet about to be flushed? Biden is one step ahead of dipers in an Alzheimers unit. I can't believe Obama is taking him along for another free ride.
Tim the Enchanter| 4.24.12 @ 2:57PM
You forgot to add Ron Paul to your list...
Alan Brooks| 4.24.12 @ 9:05PM
Ron Paul is an honest person; which disqualifies him.
Appleby| 4.24.12 @ 7:44AM
The more Obama "mingles" with "real people," the more obvious it is that he is Not One Of Us. In fact, he's what was called in the Old Neighbourhood of my youth, a "Social Climber" -- a person born in the lower class who obsessively and aggressively aspired to associate only with higher classes without the breeding or the education or the upbringing to know how to do it right. The kind of people who learn all they know about how to behave outside the 'hood, from watching television and going to the movies. People like him are a public embarrassment, not only to the people who really DO know how to behave , but to themselves. It is possible to overcome your upbringing; indeed, it is entirely possible to bring up children in poverty and yet teach them how to behave -- if you work hard at it -- like middle class kids.
But as Dorothy Parker said so trenchantly a century ago, "A goosegirl in ermine is a goosegirl still, and geese will gabble everywhere she goes."
cali| 4.24.12 @ 8:43AM
You nailed it!
Barrack and michelle obama can't connect with real americans due to the contempt they have for white america,which also includes a certain class of black america, especially those he served inChicago -the hood. He showed his contempt for them as he and valerie jarret used them in getting 'street cred' when building, collecting millions by building less than 'habitable' projects.
Michelle obama recently showed her contempt for white america when she concocted the attack to Ann Romney. Her envy and, angst drove her so far down into a barrel that she used Hilary Rosen as the pitbull to accuse Ann of never having worked a day in her life.
She underestimated Hilary, because not only did it backfire, hilary wasn't about to take the blame in being the source of this low blow. She spoke out 'nameless', and blew the wistle in michelle. It's tragic that a woman with such hate towards a white woman may take her place in the white house that she undercut her own husband.
Naturally, the obams feel they are owned the presidency, and all the lavish spending by them. Both are narcissists and, never be able to connect with anyone. Their racist hate, which took them into a church who preached hate; gave them all their justifications and, acknowledgement in their thinking.
They should never made it into the white house; their behavior is beyond appalling; their thinking brought unqualified people with them, as the current scandal, just one of many, in regard of the Secret SVChas shown.
They need to go!
Occam's Tool| 4.24.12 @ 5:23PM
He has always been an asshole.
Von Mises Jr| 4.24.12 @ 8:31AM
Obama is an elitist snob. He looks down on people. But the irony is that he is actually quite ignorant of most issues, while his radical ideology convinces him that he has nothing to learn from others.
I believe it was Aristotle that defined intelligence by first understanding how little one knows. That is perhaps why humility is a top virtue.
Tim the Enchanter| 4.24.12 @ 2:59PM
Humility is the NECESSARY virtue. Try to get into Heaven without it.
Von Mises Jr| 4.24.12 @ 3:25PM
Utopians believe that they can create Heaven on Earth. Then they die and meet themselves in the Utopian eternity. Obama at least demonstrated how to worship yourself.
Granny Jan | 4.24.12 @ 8:43AM
Bho meets a lot with regular "folks" as long as it's campaign related and he is the subject of their adulation.
If you think he really reads 10 letters every night then you don't know the guy. Every word out of his mouth is a self-serving lie.
He once said no one photographs me reading those letters when a year earlier the White House had made a video of him doing just that.
There are now no Q and As at town halls where he would constantly put his feet in his mouth like telling a father of ten to drive a hybrid.
My favorite Obamism was when he told DC second grader's he had to go scoop Bo's poop. Really. I made a video of it. That one was better than eating dogs to show how out of touch and classless the man is.
It's in this video: Obama is a No Class Act
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X2gzW0oRmo
SLK| 4.24.12 @ 9:17AM
Barackward could also be a composite of Barack and backward, as in, "Our nation is quickly going Barackward!"
TLP| 4.24.12 @ 9:52AM
Look at Sanford.
Under this THING in the White House, I'd say we're going BLACWARD, if anything.
Buck Ofama| 4.24.12 @ 1:27PM
Not black... M U L A T T O.
The best part of Oblowme ran down his mammy's hairy hind legs.
Tim the Enchanter| 4.24.12 @ 3:01PM
That was nasty. Need some mind bleach for that one.
David| 4.24.12 @ 12:32PM
TLP, you're correct in that God appoints the world's leaders. No doubt Bam Bam is fulfilling sections of Biblical prophecy.
Doctor Right| 4.24.12 @ 1:23PM
Obama is not out-of-touch.
That would imply that he was once "in-touch," but has lost it due to circumstances, or that he's simply misunderstanding the situation.
Quite the contrary, he knows EXACTLY what he's doing.
No, I'm not saying he's some magical Svengali who manipulates us all with master schemes. What I am saying is that he's a stone-cold individual, and a committed socialist. He's also a malignant narcissist, meaning he doesn't just seem detached, he IS detached. He does not understand or experience genuine emotions, so he mimics it, and it comes off as clumsy or "out-of-touch."
His commitment to a socialist worldview is enhanced by his deep-seeeded narcissism. Once of the characteristics of narcissism is an aversion to criticism, and an utter inability to admit that one is wrong, and learn from one's mistakes.
Sound familiar?
He's committed to a course of action, no matter what the cost to individuals, whom he views as no more than Chess pieces in his grand game, anyway.
He's actually the LAST kind of person that should have the power that he has.
God help us all.
Buck Ofama| 4.24.12 @ 1:26PM
I detest this snob c0cksucker, Ovomit.
Kevin| 4.25.12 @ 2:30PM
Comments like this, Buck, are not helpful to the cause of conservatism. AS moderator - hello?
JimH| 4.24.12 @ 1:56PM
Recall that from birth BO, besides spending much of his youth outside the US, he has been raised by and lived among what are referred to elsewhere on this site as the Intellectualoids. A group more self satisfied and divorced from reality you will not find. His mingling among the common folk was just doing what was necessary to establish the needed street cred for his political carreer.
Honest Question| 4.24.12 @ 2:58PM
Serious question:
Has President Obama, Commander-in-Chief of the greatest military in the world, ever fired, or even held, a gun? Has anyone ever asked?
Dave Williams| 4.24.12 @ 2:58PM
This summer, Obama's behavior will approximate that of Hitler in the spring of 1945...and we all know how THAT turned out.
Occam's Tool| 4.24.12 @ 5:24PM
Yeah, the isolation comments gave me that nasty feeling of "Hitler in the bunker" too, Dave...glad I wasn't the only one feeling it.
Bob S| 4.24.12 @ 4:03PM
He is too good to connect with little old you and me.
Ellen K| 4.24.12 @ 5:07PM
I think the president avoids contact with average folks because he associates them with the middleclassedness that is so antithetical to socialist ideals. I think he went into this administration intending to fundamentally change our nation and thought he had a mandate to do so. Now, having seen there is opposition and that he can't simply play king, he's resorting to assembling a massive warchest which will eventually become a springboard to wealth in much the same way Al Gore did with his failed campaign. Even out of office, Obama will play the political gadfly. At the same time, it is disturbing that so much of his money comes from the same factors and individuals he supports with legislation. Just look back to his speech to the AMA where he says there will be no tort reform, which is ridiculous when tort reform is the only legal thing that can bring down healthcare costs. He persists in supporting unions, in supporting abortion rights and in supporting the dissolution of fundamental American institutions as a manner of "rights" when they have little to do with rights and everything to do with campaign fund acquisition. All someone needs to do is audit the failed companies that got stimulus money and see how much of the funding went directly back into DNC, Presidential or PAC that target Democrat candidates. But nobody's done that. Why not?
Omni| 4.24.12 @ 5:32PM
The author of this article writes of our current president continuing some tradition of reading 10 letters from normal citizens.
What tradition?
If there is such a think it is complete balderdash.
And that would be so under and president.
1. A president (U.S. Senator, Supreme Court Judge) never opens his own mail.
2. The handlers "handle" and have their jobs because they handle.
3. The handlers also shield/screen.
4. A president is never going to get a very well worded, nicely spelled, factual, hard-hitting letter than strikes right into a president's failed policies, missteps, poor decisions, lousy appointments.
5. Even if there are such alleged 10 letters, they are either from kids in the 4th grade, seniors who are getting ready to be 100 years old.
6. The 10-letter exercise would be over and done in the space of 10 minutes, tops. The White House aide would have ready the president's reply letters and all that the president would do is sign them. More likely the White House AutoPen Number 4 would do this.
You are really out of touch if you think any big time pol in America spends any time at all hobnobbing with real people.
I worked for a U.S. Senator once. He did not see anything that the staff did not first choose for him to see. And he also chose not to see those things he did not want to see. He was shielded from his own staff who might offer a contrary position by the more senior staff. He also attended no events where me might encounter those who would air something contrary to his positions.
His life was very shielded. His only inputs came from just a very, very closed circle.
He was a R.
shoppegirl2001 | 4.24.12 @ 6:32PM
Doesn't mean it has to be that way. Look, Obama tweets... whoopie....
Presidents need to be less smug. More open. And I think Mitt will do a great job.
PattyMor| 4.24.12 @ 6:05PM
Barack lied when he said he came from nothing. His grandmother was the VP of a bank in Hawaii. She paid for his very private high school. His grandpa arranged for Frank Marshall Davis to mentor him. Frank Marshall Davis was a communist with a file a mile thick. I suspect that Frank Marshall Davis was his entry key into Chicago politics because Chicago is a notoriously closed town; no outsiders are welcome.
Barack hobnobbed with the marxists and communists in college. You can listen to him in his own words. Very few people have ever come forward to say they were college friends with Barack, or dated Barack. He is well grounded in communism, marxism, and Islam. He is part of the New World Order's Red/Green alliance. Its really scairy.
Barack was the Left's golden boy from the beginning. So he kept his record relatively clean by voting "present" and not putting his votes on record. Those that are on record are those where he supported the corrupt Tony Rezko's housing scams, even ones not in Barack's district. And then there is Barack's support to allow infants that survive abortions to die. Only a person with a heart of stone would support such a law. He parties, golfs, entertains, travels lavishly, fund raises and gives speeches. He's not interested in governance in the normal sense. His minions are carrying out their plans to completely destroy the U.S. and its economy, including the currency.
shoppegirl2001 | 4.24.12 @ 6:30PM
Smug.... smug.... yes, thats how I would describe Obama. Smug, elite, snobby....
Mitt 2012....
Ezmunny| 4.24.12 @ 6:45PM
I think the reason Obama has a hard time connecting with people is he's hiding something and he doesn't want to get to close to anyone he doesn't trust. Maybe he wasn't born in the U.S.
obadiah| 4.24.12 @ 7:25PM
dittos. Allot repeats Rush verbatim. like all the dittohead bloggers. obama will not win the dittohead vote. dittos.
CantWeCompromise| 4.24.12 @ 7:30PM
why is it that everyone blames the president for whats going on? is everyone going crazy? or do they just not pay attention to the house of rep. and the senate? any person with basic knowledge of how a republic works, knows that congress has control over everything. Especially when everyone in that party thinks the same way or has the same goals in mind, things will get pushed through. The whole point of having a congress is to get a wide variety of opinion, and to discuss such a opinions before life altering bills are passed. Apparently thats not a concern anymore. Apparently it's just all about getting stock options and campaign contributions from your donors.
beebop2| 4.24.12 @ 7:38PM
Don't be a fool.
The dems had both houses and the white house for two years and what did we get? Wasted money times two. Please. Don't make a further fool of your family. They deserve better.
joanne| 4.25.12 @ 7:23AM
You are delusional!!!! Obama had both houses for 2 years, and even with his smug arrogance to John McCain"I won"...the dems get angry when THEY lose. If you check your facts, after the sweep of 2010
the dems walked out in states where they did not want to vote. Then the whole recall against Walker...because the dems lost.
Now Obama the king...is going AROUND congress and the constitution to get his way.
Wake up!!! Open your eyes..learn his agenda.
moron.
CantWeCompromise| 4.24.12 @ 7:35PM
You people are kind of naive if you dont think each and every candidate is hiding something, or that each and every candidate doesn't accept bribes on a regular basis. Thats the way congress and the supreme court took a dump on our constitution. By making corporations ordinary citizens and allowing them to donate as much money as they want to political campaigns, they've essentially taken your opinion out of the mix. Unless you donate 50k or more, your opinion means nothing.
Answer4everything| 4.25.12 @ 12:38AM
You are either a lying sack of shite or you are horribly misinformed. The SCOTUS did not clear the way for corporations, unions or anyone else to donate as much as they wanted to campaigns. What the SCOTUS decision did was allow ANY group or individual to run ads, make movies, print flyers, write books, etc that advocated for or argued against any candidate. The limits on campaign donations were not part of the case and still remain as they were before Citizens United was decided.
It was a clear case of prior restraint on free speech that congress thought it could get away with by exempting "news organizations". Which, for the most part, are CORPORATE entities! It was quite disturbing how many members of both parties were behind the passage of McCain/Feingold.
Violating the Constitution is not limited to one party.
Pat| 4.24.12 @ 8:35PM
President Obama called my house the other night but we never managed to talk. His staff member initially handled the call screening and said he’d appreciate a few words with a loyal Democrat regarding his intention to “tax the rich for their fair share”. Since I’m so far right of a “loyal Democrat” a telescope wouldn’t help to resolve the image, I indicated there must be some mix-up in the name so Ms. Staff promptly hung up. But before we got that mistake straightened out, I was informed Obama intended a brief swing through our Left Coast and wanted to assess the mood of voters. The costs for this trip would be minimal, only $35 million or so for a quick out and back.
When I expressed my surprise at this amount of taxpayer funds, Ms. Staff indicated that it was indeed low since the President wasn’t bringing all his Secret Service guys, apparently a few were on indefinite suspension for some recent and minor faux pas. So the trip budget for “incidental expenses” involving night time entertainment in nearby San Francisco for the Secret Service guys was greatly reduced. Just a few limos, several big beefy guys wearing bored expressions, staring at any suspicious looking folks in my neighborhood and thinking about what to do after work.
Being one of those so-called “rich people” who recently contributed a personal record in taxes to the IRS, I was very relieved they reached the wrong person – we don’t have much room at our dining room table for big eaters lugging around automatic weapons - and after our IRS payment, all we could afford to offer were frozen fish sticks and stale Cheetos.
POST American| 4.24.12 @ 11:07PM
-------------------BOTTOM LINE---------------------------
'Ordo ob K---Oz' brought to you
by former Kissinger aide,
Harvard/Princeton 'innie', and
probable Averell Harriman stealth clone,
-------'BAR--Rockefeller' H. Obama-------.
tangentally| 4.25.12 @ 1:57AM
How do black voters and Hispanics, for that matter, relate to a black (half white?) president who parties on Martha's Vineyard during the summer? Moochelle takes the kids to Mexico for spring break when they could have gone to the Alabama or Louisiana Gulf Coast? Mooochelle holds court in Aspen, Colorado? Spain? South Africa?
These are hardly people seeking to "get in touch" with the normal Joes and Josephines of the USA.
mike matchinis| 4.25.12 @ 7:06AM
Out of Touch...
He is a product of his environment.
Its not suprising when you read the history of his father, mother, grandparents, friends and his activity in social circles, far from the typical majority of Americans.
joanne| 4.25.12 @ 7:16AM
Mitt Romney put it best last night in his speech. He basically said "try to wait...soon things will change". I felt a sigh of relief. I am disgusted to nausea over listening to the king, or even seeing his face. Why do some people want him so?? Is it because they know they made a mistake and can't admit it? or...that they are clueless.
This man is USINGa the black, the millenial, etc..it's ONLY about him.
I wish they knew that he doesn't give a rats behind for anything over HIS agenda.
God help us.
dump this king.
Kevin| 4.25.12 @ 2:32PM
Amen Joanne! The adults will soon be in charge.
Stan Allen | 4.25.12 @ 3:41PM
But remember, of course, that any criticism AT ALL of Mr. Obama is simply the byproduct of your own "racism" - if he seems out of touch, it's because YOU are "uncomfortable with a black man being the most powerful person in the world" - The latest version of that quote was from some boxer, Mike Tyson, or George Foreman, or someone, but it's the same theme - any criticism, AT ALL, is tied to racism. It's a satisfying conclusion, because it allows you to believe in it as an all-encompassing explanation for any resistance to Obama's policies.
Remember when Obama's election itself was supposed to heal our national race wound? Just wait and see what happens if Romney beats him - the din will be deafening...
rongordo | 4.26.12 @ 7:11AM
Maybe it's slowly occurring to him that all he was taught growing up was a lie, and that everyone pushing him and smiling for him all these years have been fakes.